The main reason that disposers fail is improper installation. They are lower than the drain outlet and so water stays inside the disposer instead of running out the drain pipe. That problem occurs because builders put the drin connection higher than it should be, for a grinder installation. Lowering the drain connection does take some effort, but it is the solution to both leaks and smells.

'We were at a tailgate party in Austin Texas. These guys had a "redneck margarita machine." It was a Cooler with a disposal mounted on the bottom of it. The disposal output was piped back to the top of the cooler and there was a petcock on the pipe for filling your glass. It worked.'

If its any consolation, I have replaced several disposals and its usually because the shaft seal leaks and allows the motor housing to hydrate and corrode.

Its a pig; why in-sink-erator ever thought to denigrate cute little badgers as omnivores, I don't know. I will remember this case to be careful buying that brand or ensuring housing are not made of pig-pot-metal. Sorry hogs everywhere.

I have to say galvanic corrosion makes sense with dissimilar metals. The ferrous grinding plates are probably the culprit. You got 16 years of convenience for $6.25 a year. It does look like you were grinding rocks in there. But I've heard that sound and you would have not abided that. It is surprising that you ran right out and bought a similar replacement before forensic cracking of the case.

My current hog is a kenmore; at the time they were closer to shop then Lowes homedepot or other. But this evening I will look closely for corrosion signs in the food chamber. Leak alarm is smart insurance cuz' warranties are weak. Amazing disposals price range from $80 to $300. guess we know why but the quality is not apparent when its painted pretty midnight blue.

Joeb--Now these are two very good pieces of advice. I had no idea this would work. Will give it a try. I retired from GE in 2005 and can attest to the fact that appliances definitely do not last as long as previous models. The "average" home owners move every four (4) years. (At least that was the number prior to 2005.) Appliance manufacturers know that and design accordingly.

Yuck! I sure hope the aspiring bartenders spent the $100 for a NEW Disposal in this redneck apparatus. But as "back-yard" projects go, I assume it was USED. I guess with enough Tequila the lingering after-taste of garbage will eventually fade,,,,

Joeb wrote: "Dishwasher soap is sodium hydroxide or lye if you know it by that name, very alkali and therefore very corrosive. It loves aluminum, which the disposal body is made from and eats it just as fast as it touches it."

You know, that might explain why disposers no longer last nearly as long as they used to. It used to be very rare to replace a disposer. Now it seems like 10 years is all you get. (I installed a Badger 5 in 2001 and replaced it with another in 2012.) My recollection is that when phosphtes were banned, people began complaining about the poor washing quality of the substitutes. Those substitutes were probably based on sodium hydroxide.

oldguywith toys wrote: "Slight correction: Hotpoint appliances weren't made by GE (General Electric) but by GEC (General Electric Corp.), a British conglomerate that went through a few trademark infringement lawsuits with the U.S. GE."

No, no, no. Don't confuse the British company with the Hotpoint brand used by GE in the United States. They are NOT the same.

Interestingly, the UK company was actually started in California and moved to the UK. and for a period of almost 20 years (1989-2008), the US GE company owned 50% of the UK Hotpoint, so it's a possible source of confusion.

The Hotpoint appliances sold in the US are really GE products with NOTHING changed but the label. Even the part numbers are the same.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

People who want to take advantage of solar energy in their homes no longer need to install a bolt-on solar-panel system atop their houses -- they can integrate solar-energy-harvesting shingles directing into an existing or new roof instead.

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